


Young Love

by Anarchyinplasma



Category: The Divine Assistance Series - L G Estrella
Genre: Cute, F/F, Fluff, Gift Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:34:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24983917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anarchyinplasma/pseuds/Anarchyinplasma
Summary: Even young Gods and Goddesses have to go through all the trials and tribulations that entail young love.
Relationships: Young Death/Zephyra
Comments: 3
Kudos: 3





	Young Love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Raziel12](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raziel12/gifts).



> For the wonderful Raziel12, whose writing and works have given and done for me so much that I could never repay. I'm sorry for the things I inevitably got wrong in here, and if you don't want the fic up just let me know and I'll take it down. I really hope you don't hate it.

Young Death took a deep breath as her door opened on a tropical beach in the mortal world. The air was clean, lush, and tinged with just a hint of petrichor, and she adored it. The sun was shining, a gentle breeze whispered over the leaves on the trees, tugging at the hair falling just out of the hood of her cloak. She smiled; her brother had been given this small island as a sort of mortal-world test bench by their mother, Life had given him free reign within the specific ecosystem of the surrounding archipelago, but this island was the first, his pride and joy.

A glittering crab scuttled past her feet, it’s shell the same deep glittering blackness as the ornamental crown of flowers that sat upon Young Death’s head. Her brother was so thoughtful, he’d even gone so far as to add several new varieties of cat, including black ones with eyes like glittering electric sapphires that Young Death had been both humbled and overjoyed to be made the small-time patron goddess of.

A fair wind picked up from the breeze and Young Death knew what that meant, she looked eastward, out to sea.

From the clouds, a speck dropped rapidly and gracefully, quickly speeding towards the island. Young Death’s divine eyes would have let her see, but she already knew what was coming. Barely a minute later, Zephyra touched down next to her in the sand.  
“Hi” she said brightly, as her raccoon pushed aside his tiny flying goggles (a gift from Wisdom & Knowledge) and blinked owlishly from his perch before waving a paw at Young Death.  
“Hey” Young Death replied, reaching a pair of fingers up to the raccoon for him to grasp in as close an approximation to a handshake as he could get with paws.

Young Death hugged her closest friend as soon as she’d finished shaking paws with her raccoon, Zepyhra hugged back before she asked her biggest question.  
“Why are we here?” Young Death smiled sunnily and swept her cloak aside, revealing a wicker picnic basket containing, among other things, a bottle of divine wine and a variety of foods she’d made under the guidance of some of the gods and goddesses of the home and hearth.  
“I remember you told me you liked the look of that picnicking thing mortals invented, so I thought it would be nice to try it.”

Zephyra wrapped her younger friend up in another hug  
“Oh that sounds great! You even brought a blanket!” Young Death grinned  
“Of course I did, you mentioned it was essential afterall” she whipped the blanket out and produced a square on the sand, then placed the basket down and took a seat herself. Zephyra sat down next to her and started to poke about in the basket.  
“What do we have?” Young Death batted her hands away with a grin and pulled out the bottle and glasses first.  
“Well we have this, Love gave it to me when I turned old enough last year, apparently it’s sweet, and I thought we could share it.” Zephyra took the bottle as Young Death reached for their food and gave it an appreciative once over.

“This is some expensive stuff, my grandfather has a few bottles for special occasions.” Young Death smiled.  
“No better person to share with then.” She produced food from the basket, still piping hot slices of pie kept at a perfect temperature by a little divine power. She scooped them onto 3 plates and handed one over, setting a smaller portion aside for the raccoon as Zephyra picked a fork from the basket and tucked in.  
“Mmm” she groaned as the first bite melted in her mouth. “This is fantastic, where did you get it?”

Young Death smiled at her as she swallowed a mouthful of food.  
“I made it, my Mother suggested I learn to cook for the fun of it, and she was right”  
“Indeed she was” Zephyra took another bite and marvelled at the delicious texture and taste, it seemed beyond mere perfection. While Zephra was busy creating new words to describe the post-divine perfection of the pie she’d been given, Young Death busied herself with the wine.

It was a spectacular vintage, she reflected, rummaging around in her basket for the sommelier knife, her Father had said so himself when she received it from Love on her birthday a few years before, thanking the goddess for her generosity and telling his daughter that it was something to be shared with someone very special (it didn’t escape her notice that this particular bottle was of the vintage her parents always shared a glass of whenever they spent time together). Naturally the first person that came to Young Death’s mind was Zephyra.

As her fingers still searched for the elusive wine key, Young Death found her thoughts consumed by her closest friend. They’d been this way for many years now, ever since Zephyra had been called on to babysit her in her childhood, Young Death had felt a special connection to the other young goddess, from their first surprising and ill-timed battle together to the day with the cow, Heidi, and Sky Burner, as time wore on the powerful young goddess had felt herself growing closer and closer to Zephyra, what had begun as a close friendship in their youth had gradually evolved little by little, and Young Death felt it was on the verge of evolving further than she had ever dreamed...

Her fingers finally snagged the elusive hardware she was grasping for and she pulled it free of the basket triumphantly, she turned to the two wine glasses floating in front of her, suspended in the air with the vaguest tendrils of Zephra’s power and poured them both a single half glass before re-corking the bottle, her Mother had warned her that this particular variety was incredibly potent, and she didn't want to over-do it.

“Cheers” she clinked their glasses as she plucked hers from the air and took a sip as Zephyra did the same. The instant the wine hit her tongue Young Death was in heaven, her mouth filled with ecstasy, and a stray thought of ‘just like kissing Zephyra’ swam through her head before she coloured so deeply that she was sure it was visible even through the pitch blackness of her hood that none could penetrate save her Mother and Father.

Her sheer embarrassment was eased by the fact that Zephyra seemed to be having a very similar experience if her wide eyes and deep blush were anything to go by.  
“Wow…” the goddess of fair winds whispered softly, and at that moment Young Death felt a deep appreciation for how her Father must feel every time he saw her Mother. Death had once confided in his daughter that their eyes, -eyes that could see through every falsehood and deception and tell the end of all things with but a single glance-, had a tendency to both enhance and dampen situations.

Right now Zephyra swam in her vision, Young Death could see not only the blatantly physical, but also every layer of her power, from the basic components of her appearance to the divine strands of flowing gossamer crystal that surrounded her in a dizzying lattice of power that spoke as much to her already formidable power as the goddess of fair winds as it did to her potential, a winding and shimmering ribbon of refracted octarine-spectrum energies, and even beyond that, Young Death’s eyes stripped Zephra to her core, as the goddess of bloodlines, Zephyra’s was cut into her make-up as clearly as rings in a tree, not simply her lineage but her inherited traits, courage and honour marbled her soul, mixed with the tell-tale spider-webbing deep crimson pattern that wove in and out of her whole being that signified fulfilled ambition and a seized desire to earn her way to a title she was deserving of.

In short, to borrow her Father’s favourite way of describing her Mother, to Young Death’s eyes, Zephra was unbearably lovely.

Neither of the young goddesses realised they’d been finishing off their drinks automatically until Zephyra tipped her glass back and got no more wine. As the spell broke she efficiently packed everything away, helped a still somewhat shell-shocked Young Death to her feet, and prepared to set off home.

Still somewhat dazed by her transcendental experience at the hands of Love’s favourite vintage of divine wine, Young Death barely registered the bright smile, the departure hug, or the feather-light kiss that Zephyra, also acting somewhat in a daze, pressed to her cheek on the corner of her mouth under the hood of her cloak until the older goddess was soaring majestically away into the lowering sun, hair streaming in the wind like a waterfall of liquid marble.

With a hard swallow, Young Death realised she needed to talk to Love and Muse, and she wasn’t the least bit sure which of the two would be the least mortifying. Muse, she decided, was the best option for her first stop, the Greater Goddess had become a close friend of hers as she’d grown up, so Young Death figured that this would be the best choice to start with.

With a gesture, a door formed and the picnic basket floated through it, coming to rest on her kitchen counter at home. With another, a second door opened that delivered her instantly to what Muse had referred to in the past as a ‘waiting room’. Since Young Death, her Father, and Wayfarer could all transport directly into her realm while accidentally or deliberately bypassing the need to ask for entrance, Muse had decided long ago to add a small room that it was convenient for them to transport into where she could receive them as a proper and gracious host.

Yet no sooner had Young Death set foot in the small section of Muse’s realm stacked with good books for visitors than the Greater Goddess had beckoned her into the realm with the mental equivalent of a knowing smile.

Young Death flew slowly along, taking comfort from her emotional turmoil in the familiar physical turmoil of Muse’s realm. The Greater Goddess was sitting high up a large cloud made of solid marble, elegantly floating above a sea of luminous electric blue that mixed with deep royal purple and bright starlight gold in brilliant swirls of colour as dolphins made of glittering ribbons of poetic verse jumped gaily in and out of the multicoloured waves and gigantic birds composed of fractal mirrors with eyes like rapidly shifting gemstones lit with inner fire soared among the marble clouds; a few hung in rest from the floating carved chunks, their swirled glass talons cutting curls and texture into their hanging marble perches.

Muse herself was laying contentedly on a chaise lounge made of spongy sapphires in front of a gazebo made from multicoloured sand on the largest cloud in the visible sky, a huge carved block of stone that stretched as large as a moderate mansion, and indeed had one built into it, cut from whirls of silver and ribbons of gold inlaid into a somehow stable and solid framework of ever-molten iron that glowed softly in the everpresent dawnlight from the black star peeking over the horizon that somehow produced every colour on the eightfold spectrum along with a few more that even Young Death’s eyes had difficulty with.

“Hello Auntie Muse” she started, unsure of herself, before a figure emerged from behind a nearby curtain in the gazebo and Love stepped out with an almost predatory smile. “I’m sorry Auntie Love I didn’t want to interrupt-” she started, before both older goddesses shushed her good-naturedly.  
“Nonsense,” Love said, draping herself over a luxurious chair made of multicoloured volcanic ash that extruded up from the ground with a subtle gesture from Muse; her smile only growing as Young Death stammered and averted her eyes from the effect her power was putting off, “we were just talking about you”. Taking some pity on her niece, Love allowed her body’s features to drift away from the imitation of Zephyra she presented without conscious thought and towards a set of looks that she’d found particularly entrancing earlier, and gave her niece a chance to collect herself.

“Oh, you were…” Young Death started, still a touch shell-shocked. Muse stifled a giggle and gestured to her sister to continue.  
“Yes,” Love said, steamrolling the conversation forwards to try and disperse the embarrassment, “you see I’ve noticed you’re rather attracted to a certain young goddess of fair winds…” Young Death let out an almost comical gulp in anticipation and Muse reached forwards to ruffle her hair under the hood.

“Don’t worry about it, we’re here to help, honest, this is never easy for young gods and you especially; we were all there once.” She reclined back into her spongy gemstone chaise and with a mental command sent a servant spirit off for some of Young Death’s favourite snacks and summoned a second chair for the younger Goddess to sit down.

“What do I do?” Young Death groaned, slightly more comfortable now that Muse had reassured her, Love gave a tinkling laugh and snagged a triple chocolate chip cookie from the tray the servant had returned with as Young Death eagerly gobbled down one of the snacks, feeling the gooey centre mix on her tongue and oblivious to Muse’s smile as the same trick that worked on every god of war with wine now worked on Young Death through the power of sugary snacks.

Love smiled beautifically while she took careful elegant bites.  
“I won’t spoil the way this will go, the journey towards true caring partnership with anyone is a beautiful thing, and you must experience it yourself, no matter if she’s the one for you or not. But I think we can offer you some fairly good advice, probably better than most of the people you normally get to talk to.” She thought of Torment and sighed inwardly, the boy tried, he really did, but his ability to see into the hearts of mortals was invariably bent a certain way by his powers and it had led to several… unfortunate courtships in years past.

Young Death nodded, thinking on similar lines. As much as she loved Torment as a co-worker and a friend and often as a mentor at times in her childhood, she’d been witness to the unfortunate state of his love life several times.  
“The best piece of advice I can offer you when trying to deepen your relationship is that Zephyra is still the same girl you knew, don’t put her up on a pedestal...” Muse paused, thinking, “not any more than her grandfather does anyway, he’s quite proud.” Young Death cocked her head in confusion and Muse smiled. “I mean don’t start treating her differently, if she is interested in you,” she recalled her previous conversation with Love and gave a wry grin; “she’s interested in you for you and the connection you share, trying to overtly showcase your affections would only ruin things at this delicate point.”

Young Death accepted this with a nod and turned to Love. The older Goddess thought silently for a second before she answered.  
“Tell me about this girl you like, let’s help you decide how to go about this.”  
“Well…” Young Death took a second to figure out how best to respond to this question without just blurting out the words ‘she’s really pretty’. Love raised an eyebrow;  
“No rush, just tell me about her.”

The words came haltingly at first, but eventually Young Death got more into the flow of things, she regaled Love and Muse with tales of their exploits, from the little picnic they’d just shared, to the first time they’d met, when Zephyra had put her life on the line to defend her from Void Spawn, to how Zephyra was always there when she’d needed an ear, had offered her as much advice as she could about assuming her father’s duties when he took his holidays, to how they’d gravitated towards spending more time with each other as Zephyra had moved from an older sibling babysitting role in her life to that of a friend, then a close friend, and now an interest of her affections.

When she was done, Love was silent for a minute in thought, and Young Death took the time to scarf down a couple more comfort cookies while she waited for the deliberation.  
“I think…” Love started, and Young Death bounced nervously in her seat for a second; “that you should just talk to her about this.” Young Death sagged in defeat.  
“But what if I lose her as a friend over this, if I just talk bluntly to her then she might not want anything to do with me anymore-” Muse cut her off with another ruffle of the hair and a sad smile.  
“It’s better to know, trust me on this.” she said, eyes far away, lingering ever so briefly on a strikingly red-headed mortal artist deep within her memory before she pushed the memory of the other woman away to the back of her mind and focussed on the present. “Even in the worst case scenario, if you’ll never find another you share that connection with and you’re alone forevermore, which I’m sure would never happen, but even if it did, it’s better to let your heart heal than to keep ripping open the wound.”

Love nodded approvingly.  
“I couldn’t have said it better myself sister,” she levelled her gaze on Young Death, “talk to her, openly, communication is important at every stage in relationships of every type.” She gave a somewhat smug look. “it’s toppled empires you know.” Young Death smiled as the tension evaporated from her shoulders.  
“Okay, thank you Auntie Love and Auntie Muse.” she gave them a brief hug each and stood. “I’m sorry for intruding on your conversation.” Muse waved her protests away.  
“Nonsense, you’re free to come and go any time, you know that, you’re our favourite niece after-all.” With a smile, she handed her a cookie and ushered her through a doorway.

“How will it end? You didn’t tell me that part yet.” she asked, turning back to her sister with a look of extreme curiosity, Love grinned and gave a wink.  
“Spoilers sister,” she chided, “now, what was that artwork you wanted to show me?” Muse’s eyes lit up and she waved a hand, opening a window into the mortal realm.  
“It’s the ceiling of my temple in Alleron” she said, showcasing a fresco of herself reaching down to pluck a drowning man from the waters of a raging river that perfectly captured the desperation of the man caught in the thrashing torrent of ice-cold water, and the form of the Goddess reaching down the pull him from the deadly waters.

\-----

Zephyra felt no small bit of nervousness as she was allowed access and finished her teleportation into a forest of Life’s realm. She was here for a good reason, she reminded herself, and while she’d become quite good friends with Young Life through his sister, she couldn’t help but worry how he would react to her somewhat unusual request for advice.

A raccoon descended from a tree nearby and bowed to it’s patron Goddess before pointing in the direction of its creator. She thanked the little animal (she’d left her raccoon at home after he had elected not to accompany her on this trip), and walked off.

Several minutes later she emerged onto a beach where Young Life and his mother were working on some creature. Zephyra waited politely until they had finished and Young Life made his way over to speak to her.  
“Did the picnic go well?” he asked, and Zephyra was confused before she realised Young Death had obviously told him about it, and they’d used one of his islands.  
“Yes, it went really well actually,” she said, before gathering her courage and deciding to just get it over with, “except for the last bit, I-think-I-have-a-crush-on-her” the last few words came out in a rush and Zephyra held her breath for his response.

For a second, there was silence, and then Young Life lost the battle to hold in his snickering laughter.  
“Oh, that’s…” he got out between bursts of laughter, “you didn’t even know?!”

Zephyra’s racing train of thought went from mach ten to a dead stop in less than a second and she could only stare dumbly as Young LIfe gathered his composure, only to take one look at her dumbfounded face and and burst into snickers again.

“I’m really sorry.” Young LIfe said as he collected himself more fully. “Genuinely, I thought you two were already seeing each other quietly.” Zephyra looked at him disbelievingly.  
“Really?” Young Life nodded.  
“Really, private picnic to a deserted island on the mortal world, just the two of you, combined with how much she talks about you already, I just assumed you were.”

For the second time in as many minutes Zephyra was shell-shocked by that response, so Young LIfe smiled and led her over to what he and his mother had been working on.  
“Have a sit down and let’s relax while you’re here.” He suggested, with a questioning look at his mother, who merely smiled and created a table and chairs for them with a thought and summoned a servant spirit with some tea. They chatted for a few minutes after that, Life smirkingly regaling them both with some stories of Death’s early attempts at courtship.

When the tea was finished and conversation naturally halted Zephyra made to leave, feeling lighter after a conversation with them both. Life smiled and told her she was welcome to come over any time, before a messenger servant arrived with an appointment request from a God of Healing and her expression darkened as Zephyra wished her a good day and bid a hasty retreat; thanking her for her hospitality.

She appeared back in her room, only to find a messenger spirit from Young Death asking when she’d like to meet up again. Zephyra’s anxiety came back, but she squashed it down, remembering what Young LIfe had said, and scribbled back a prompt response, saying she was free tomorrow as well and she’d quite like to go for a fly together. She handed it to the messenger spirit with a smile and collapsed onto her bed with a smile as a book floated into her open hand from her bookshelf across the room.

\-----

The first time Zephyra had suggested they go flying together, Young Death hadn’t really seen the appeal. She’d given it a try because her friend had suggested it, and had instantly fallen in love with the experience.

Every other time she’d flown it had been to travel, to get somewhere, Zephyra had taught her how flight could be enjoyable, not just in the mortal world but in her own realm as well, the realm of the gods of wind featured obstacle courses carved out of the sky, palaces made of marble and divine metal lighter than air that floated in amongst fortresses made of cloud and sunlight.

Today however they’d gone flying in the mortal world, Zephyra was flying in front of her, hair streaming in the wind like molten stone and her light divine armour glinting in the sun as she banked into a steep dive, letting out an indulgent whoop in excitement as she swept below Young Death in a dive that took her right to the ocean’s surface; skimming the waves and dodging ocean spray.

Young Death followed, opening a door that took her instantly down a few hundred feet and right to Zephyra’s side.  
“That’s cheating!” her companion exclaimed, Young Death gave a tiny smirk from underneath her hood.  
“You’re the one holding back.”  
“You’re right” Zephyra smiled sunnily and Young Death felt her stomach flutter and flip and almost crashed straight into the ocean surface before Zephyra streaked off so fast that the sound barrier broke.

Young Death smiled at the thin air where she used to be and opened a door lazily, emerging next to her on a beach where the sand was inlaid with brilliant splashes of smooth glass, forever preserved in the splash pattern of fire as hot as a star. It had been the site of a climactic tropical dragon battle in ages past, between two rivals fighting over territory. The winner, the dragon that would come to be known as the Tyrant of Apollos, had unleashed a blast of flame so hot that the sand had been burned to glass where it sat, and hundreds of years later the sand still flowed around the waves of glass burned into the beach.

“This beach is so pretty” Young Death marvelled at the still ocean of glass that surrounded them, glinting warm gold and cold silver in the overhead sun as the light bounced off the smooth angular panes.

“I thought it was a good spot to have a conversation” Zephyra replied, toeing some sand around in uncertainty.  
“What do you want to talk about?” Young Death asked, all concern for her own planned confession flying out of the window at how serious Zephyra sounded.  
“It’s time we had a talk”  
Young Death gave Zephyra her full attention and waited for her to speak.

“I…” words that had been planned hours in advance dried up on Zephyra’s tongue and she stalled, taking in the image of Young Death in front of her, alert and attentive to her every word. She gathered her courage.  
“I like you” she declared, “I think I’d like to… see how we…” words failed her again and Young Death smiled brightly from under her hood.  
“I’m so glad that’s what you wanted to say.”

She pulled Zephyra into a tight hug, and pressed a feather-light kiss to her lips for the barest second before she pulled back and looked her in the eyes. Zephyra smiled and returned the hug tightly, pressing her own light kiss to Young Death’s lips. The younger girl smiled and used one hand to reach up and pull her hood back ever so slightly, allowing Zephyra a clearer view of her face than anyone except her parents and the Supreme Mother and Father had ever gotten.

Zephyra took in the pale skin and defined delicate bone structure with a smile but got utterly stopped on Young Death’s eyes.

It was commonly said that eyes were what gave Gods away in mortal guise, of course they could conceal this if they so chose to, it was a clue for the observant, one of the small things that gave off an aura of power when a God chose not to completely hide their presence in mortal guise. Every God had different eyes, some, like Fate, had eyes that looked like they were a solid topaz, an indiscernible window into her soul. Life’s eyes were a constant shifting pattern of plant and animal patterns and colours, while Deaths’ were merely a piercing white that stripped away all deception and falsehood until only utter truth remained.

Young Death had inherited something from both her parents it seemed. And Zephyra was utterly entranced by an unobstructed view, she had always seen Young Death’s eyes as two small rings of evershifting and indescribable starlight bands within her hood, but now she saw that unlike some Gods, Young Death possessed eyes with an almost human structure, only her iris was the telltale giveaway.

“So…” Young Death broke the spell with a word and pulled her hood back up, Zephyra gently reached a hand in to cup her cheek.  
“Want to see where we go?” Young Death nodded and Zephyra kissed her as she’d dreamt of doing.

\-----

Unbeknownst to the two young Goddesses, Love and Muse were gossiping handily over that little interaction.  
“They’re so adorable” Love cooed, waving her hand to rotate the image her powers displayed as Young Death and Zephyra separated and started to walk hand in hand down the beach.  
“I know” Muse agreed, handing her sister another cookie as the scene shifted.

“Now” Love said, her grin turning predatory in a split second as a red-headed sculptor with her hair tied back in a functional ponytail hunched over a potter’s wheel swam into focus; “I believe I’ve found a mortal that’s exactly your type sister.

Muse covered her eyes with her hand and groaned.


End file.
